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Need some inspirational thoughts? Welcome to what is (allegedly) the most depressing day of the year. The third Monday in January, otherwise known as Blue Monday. Yes, apparently a deadly combination of weather, debt and low motivation, mean that today many of us are feeling blue!

So, to boost your mood, we’re looking back at some of the best and most innovative 2018 marketing campaigns. The ones that strove to ensure the consumer experience was next level! An innovative and forward-thinking campaign has the power to inspire, educate, and entertain. Who wouldn’t want all those things on a day like today?

1. “Here to Create Legend” – Adidas

Back in April, after months of hard work and training, 30,000 people took to the streets of Boston to complete the 2018 Boston Marathon. To congratulate and help make the experience even more memorable for the participants, Adidas captured and sent a personalised inspirational video to every single runner. Just a mere few hours after they’d crossed the finish line!

Why? Well, the 2018 marathon also coincided with the 30th year of partnership between Adidas and the Boston Athletic Association. To celebrate, the brand had developed the Adizero Boston Boost 7 running shoe and needed a way to promote its release. So, they created the Here to Create Legend campaign.

The campaign team set out to highlight individual runners for 2018’s marathon. To make it happen, Grow (Adidas’ digital agency for the campaign) used RFID chips on race bibs to transmit data such as pace and split times to advanced cameras to capture footage of each runner throughout the race. Grow also developed a custom algorithm to enable videos to be edited and shared just hours after the race had ended.

Race runners were so delighted with the videos that Adidas received more than 80,000 visits to the campaign microsite. With more than 13,000 visitors continuing on to Adidas.com. Social shares of the videos generated more than 64,000 social engagements. The email open rate for the campaign was 113% over the brand’s year-to-date baseline. While actual product sales garnered per email was up 1,189% above the year-to-date baseline!

2. “LaundROO Lounge” by LG

Ah, the music festival. A rite of passage for many and one of the highlights of summer. Anyone who’s been to a festival will empathize with the fact that you’re bound to get a little, well, dirty. Mud, sweat, face paint, and food spills can all ruin a carefully crafted festival outfit! Which is why LG Electronics chose to erect the huge interactive 3,600-square-foot pop-up “LaundROO Lounge” experience at the Bonnoroo Music & Arts Festival in June. This was created to help campers at the 4-day extravaganza “refresh [their] mind, spirit and clothes”.

The pop-up boasted 25 washing machines, 25 dryers, and an LG steamer where concert goers could drop off their dirty clothes for a free “wash’n’fold experience“. And while they waited, mobile phone charging stations, games, LG OLED TVs, and relaxing hangout spots were all provided, as well as the opportunity to swap vintage clothes with fellow festival goers.

“At this year’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, we’re demonstrating the power of LG washing machines and inviting festival goers to go ahead and have fun, be themselves and #GetDirty – because no matter how dirty or busy life gets, LG can take care of them on the dance floor and at home,” said Dave VanderWaal, Senior Vice President of Marketing, LG Electronics USA.

3. “Paving for Pizzas” by Dominos

In June, Domino’s partnered with several towns and cities in the U.S.A to fix… potholes. Confused? What’s a pizza delivery company doing filling potholes?

“We care about our customers and how we can make their experience better, we often try to focus on existing tensions that could impact their interaction with our brand,” Jenny Fouracre, spokeswoman for the brand, told American news website, CNBC. “Clearly we hit on a big one — potholes — and what they can do to your pizza.” Yes, in an effort to ensure customer’s pizzas maintain their integrity during the delivery process, Dominos has provided grants to a number of locations around the U.S. for a campaign called Paving for Pizzas.

Still confused? Put it this way, Dominos have recognised that the state of America’s infrastructure (it’s roads in particular) is a huge source of pain for thousands of commuters (and pizza lovers) all over the country. Paving for Pizzas aims to fill in potholes, so Domino’s delivery drivers have a smoother ride and, as a result, so do the wider public. Now that’s inspirational.

Locations that have benefited from Domino’s grant say it’s “a unique way” to help tackle a problem. Mark Whitfield, Director of Public Works for Milford, Delaware says, “it has enabled us to stretch our pothole dollars and do ‘more with less’.” While Darren Tristano, CEO of CHD-Expert (a food marketing research firm) says, “every consumer/customer can relate to potholes, especially in the north where snow and ploughing erode the surfaces more aggressively. The program dovetails nicely into their pizza insurance promotion and continues to put the chain top-of-mind with consumers for being active, caring and taking some social responsibility.”

To date, Dominos have received thousands of nominations for towns throughout the country and promise to pave “all 50 states”.

4. “2018 Wrapped” by Spotify

As the year came to close in December, the world eagerly awaited what has, in the last 3 years, become a hotly anticipated annual event—Spotify’s 2018 Wrapped campaign. Now, it seems unusual that a marketing campaign would be a highly anticipated, but such is the inspirational nature of personalised marketing today.

Using listening data collected from their millions of users and a specially designed microsite, the music streaming service encouraged both free and premium users to connect their Spotify accounts and “reflect on the past year” by rediscovering and sharing “the music and podcasts that formed your personal soundtrack in 2018”.

Users were able to discover how many total minutes they streamed, their most played artists and songs, their top genres, the number of new artists they discovered, and share their personal Wrapped share card to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds. Spotify Premium users got to go even deeper and access additional insights about their year in listening.

But Wait – There’s More

After previewing their Wrapped 2018 stats, users were given two brand new, completely inspirational personalised playlists. “Your Top Songs 2018” featured 100 of the top songs users played throughout 2018. They were sorted starting with the songs they played most. While “Tastebreakers” introduced users to new music from genres and artists they don’t normally explore.

I’m sure you’ll agree; a unique inspirational consumer experience plays a vital role in any marketing campaign. Each of these brands had one goal in mind when creating their marketing campaigns. To make the consumer experience as memorable as possible. In doing so, they catapulted their brand to the top of the consumer’s mind. Want to do the same?

For more insights on how your brand can get more inspirational content from your marketing campaign across all digital channels (and to keep those good vibes going of a Blue Monday!), check out our on-demand webinar ‘How To Leverage Digital Content And Increase Sales’.

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